The Dutchwoman Ineke Hans has been the designer chosen this year to present her projects in the entrance vestibule of the fair. Trained at the Hogeschool voor of Kunsten, Hans stands out for the diversity and creativity of her proposals, with designs overflowing with touches of humour and sensuality. The 240m2 of exhibition were divided into two parts: an area fitted out as domestic spaces and an outdoor one inspired in the cold dark Swedish winters. This show completed the special attention that has been dedicated this year to Dutch design, also featuring the intervention of Li Edelkoort, an expert in trends and design, as part of the event’s programme of seminars. An outstanding Dutch participation that was confirmed with the exhibition “In Dutch Design” within the trade fair site and that sought to showcase the best in modern and contemporary Dutch design by 17 designers, both novel ones and others with an international name.

This is the installation that the designer Monica Förster created in the vestibule of the Nordic Light hotel. Inspired in Hitchcock’s film “The Birds”, the proposal recreated a hair-raising atmosphere by putting hundreds of huge black crows on the ceiling, tied together with barbed wire. These same birds were also the protagonists of the luminaire that Zero - the Swedish lighting company - proposed for the occasion, which was baptised with the name Wing. The same hotel’s events room hosted the Swedish Style exhibition, created with the purpose of divulging the Swedish lifestyle, which centres on the design of the habitat. Among the designers showcasing their pieces are names such as Form Us With Love, TAF & Damian Williamson or Mia Cullin.

The Nordic Design Prize is awarded annually to the best piece of furniture made from wood. The winner this year has been the Newton table designed by Dan Sunaga and Staffan Holm and manufactured by Karl Andersson & Söner. The jury remarked about it the ingenious application of a technique for cutting the wood into sheets, minimising the surplus material and creating a unique piece in its formal language.

Manolo Bossi won the Green Furniture award with his armchair Be Inspireled. A piece made from moulded birch wood and a new type of felt that uses 50% recycled fibres from plastic bottles. In addition to this material, which can be recycled again once the chair’s useful life is over, new ideas have been incorporated on how to reuse the metal, such as the metallic spirals in notebooks, left over from the paper recycling process.

The collective of six young Swedish designers Camp Site was entrusting with creating a temporary bar for the trade fair. Different shades of red were chosen to display, in a softly-lit, warm ambience, the different pieces redesigned to meet the needs of The Red Cross humanitarian organisation. After the closing of the fair, the furniture, donated by the different exhibitor companies, has become part of a café and meeting point that the humanitarian organisation has in the suburbs of Stockholm.

Can something seen as ugly turn into an object of beauty in another context? How can we bring added value to a surface destroyed by everyday use? How can we highlight the beauty of an aged material? The answer to all these questions was found by the two Swedish designers Chandra Ahlsell and Anna Holmquist, founders of the Folkform studio, in an old flat in Solna, a town on the outskirts of Stockholm. There, when tearing off layers of wallpaper, was their inspiration. They found wallpaper in an aged print that served as the basis for experimenting with different surfaces and materials. The result is a series of cupboards and glass cases that recreate natural cracks and textures. The beauty of the old in a piece of timeless furniture.